You Are a Difference Maker

Sorry to be absent from the blogging world for so long. Life has a way of getting away from us.

Speaking of life getting away from us, we are in the midst of state and federal budget debates across the country. Uncertainty is the common thread in schools and programs everywhere you turn. It is easy to see the glass half empty.

But I encourage each of you who work with youth to remember why you are involved in the profession you have chosen. Your career was chosen because of the difference you can make. That has not changed. Underneath the scariness of shrinking budgets and increasing costs, you still desire to make a difference. The need is still present. Texting and Facebook are taking the place of face to face discourse, and family time is missing for most in these busy days as people try to get by. You are still needed to be a role model and a change agent for the children you teach and guide. They may not show you, most will certainly never tell you, but you are what really matters in the education equation.

So don’t lose sight of the structure that lies underneath all of the needs of the day—no matter what the outcome of all of the posturing at the state capitols, keep your original purpose in the front of your mind. This noble calling doesn’t change, even when other things do.